Closure
by Patricia Sage
Summary: "He was wearing red pants and a deep blue T-shirt with a bowtie that had little sailboats on it. And, looking into his face, Mrs. Rose did feel that she had seen him before. It took her a few moments of studying him before she finally realized why. She barely recognized his face without all the blood on it."


**Closure**

**Author's Note: Lame title, as usual. This story is set during S04E02. I really hope you like it! :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. I just cry sometimes when I watch it…and I'm pretty sure I own those tears.**

"Hey, Mom. Something smells good." Marley Rose smiled as she walked into the kitchen where her mother was making supper. You'd think that, since Mrs. Rose worked as a lunch lady, that she would hate cooking when she could avoid it, but she actually liked what she was doing. And it was certainly a benefit of her job when she could take home some of the extra food and make a nice meal for herself and her daughter.

"Hi, Marley. How was school?" Mrs. Rose asked as she took the cabbage rolls out of the oven.

Marley took her hat off and placed it on the back of a chair, but she kept her purple scarf on. It was a birthday gift from her Aunt Mary and she loved how the silk felt against her skin. "School was okay," she said, "I spent a lot of time with my new friends from Glee Club, so that was nice."

Mrs. Rose smiled at her daughter, "Yeah? They're good to you?"

The brown-haired girl couldn't stop her face from lighting up. "Yes, they're fantastic. And so talented, Mom. It's great to spend time with them."

Her mother loved hearing Marley so happy. "Tell me about them."

And then the girl rambled on and on about each and every one of them. She talked about Mr. Shue's unconditional faith in his Glee kids, Unique's inspiring self-confidence, Artie's nerdy ways, Britney's strange antics, Tina's fashion, Joe's dedication, Sam's kind heart, and Blaine's true talent in performing.

"But there's something about Blaine that I just can't place…" Marley mused when she finished her explanation of her new group of friends, "I don't know, I just get this vague feeling that I know him from somewhere."

"Really?" Mrs. Rose had served them their supper while Marley was talking and she gathered the dishes to put in the sink for her daughter to wash. "Maybe I should keep an eye out for him. Which one is he?"

"He's the one with the dark hair, too much gel, wardrobe that involves the occasional bowtie, and eyebrows in the shape of triangles," Marley stated factually, "And when he opens his mouth, he has the most gorgeous tenor voice you've ever heard."

Her mother raised an eyebrow. "It sounds like you've got quite an eye on this boy."

"No, Mom, not like that!" Marley blushed, "I just like to admire other musicians and artists. He has a great voice and I appreciate it." Her mother still looked at her with a suspicious glint in her eye, so the girl thought it appropriate to add, "Plus, he has a boyfriend."

"Oh, I see." Mrs. Rose said, sitting back down at the kitchen table. "He's taken _and_ he bats for the other team." She winked, "Unfortunate."

Marley laughed, "Yeah, it kind of is."

"What's his boyfriend like?"

"I didn't see much of him, to be honest," The brown-haired girl said, "He graduated last year and stuck around for the Glee Club auditions, but then moved to New York." She put her hat back on. "From what I saw of him, he's tall, fair-skinned, and impeccably dressed."

"Interesting." Their conversation hung in the air between them for a moment before Mrs. Rose broke the silence. "Well, I'll keep an eye out for Blaine at lunch tomorrow and let him know if I get a twang of recognition as well. Now, how about you finish up those dishes and then we watch a million episodes of _Say Yes to the Dress_?"

Marley giggled, "Sounds great."

* * *

The next day at lunch, Mrs. Rose was on the lookout for gelled hair and triangular eyebrows.

She didn't see anyone matching her daughter's description in the early crowd of people getting their food. However, she didn't see any of the Glee kids yet, so she would wait for him to come with his group of friends. Ignoring some of the more outspoken jocks calling her names, the lunch lady finally spotted the New Directions entering the cafeteria.

The blonde one with the big lips gave her a friendly greeting of "Hey, Mrs. R!" which she smiled in reply to. The wheelchair kid grinned at her and thanked her for the food. After he wheeled away, finally Blaine appeared in front of her.

He was wearing red pants and a deep blue T-shirt with a bowtie that had little sailboats on it. And, looking into his face, Mrs. Rose did feel that she had seen him before. It took her a few moments of studying him before she finally realized why.

She barely recognized his face without all the blood on it.

He smiled at her, his hazel eyes lighting up. "Thanks, Mrs. Rose." He said politely when she served up his lunch. The students in Glee were very nice to her since Marley joined the club.

She spoke up before he could walk away with his tray. "You're Blaine, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

The people behind him were in a slight dispute and were ignoring her for the moment. She was thankful. This boy seemed nice and Mrs. Rose didn't want him getting any trouble for talking to her. She decided to make this quick, for his sake. "Could I talk to you sometime?"

Blaine looked a little confused, but not suspicious. "Um, sure, I have a spare next period." He was a little hesitant, but apparently saw the honesty in her eyes, "I could meet you in the choir room?" He offered slowly. Mrs. Rose nodded and the boy walked over to his table. It meant a lot that the hazel-eyed boy put a little blind trust in her and she didn't take that for granted.

Obviously, Blaine didn't remember her. But she would never be able to forget the night that he had come into her life.

* * *

After Mrs. Rose convinced the other lunch ladies that she had to take a little break (they weren't happy with her, considering she was still new and she was leaving in the post-lunch chaos), she finally made her way to the choir room. She almost got lost a couple of times, but there was nobody in the halls because of class, so it was easy enough to figure her way around.

Blaine had obviously been waiting for her for a little while. His messenger bag was on the floor beside the piano bench which he was sitting on. The boy himself was lost in his own mind as his fingers made their skilled way across the piano keys. Mrs. Rose vaguely recognized the chords from a song she'd heard on the radio.

And then Blaine took a breath and started to sing.

_And when he opens his mouth, he has the most gorgeous tenor voice you've ever heard. _That's what Marley had said to her in her brief description of this boy. She had thought her daughter was exaggerating out of admiration, but she was right on target. That boy belted out the song like he had written it himself; filled with so much passion and raw talent that it nearly blew Mrs. Rose away.

It was no wonder he had won this "New Rachel" title, or whatever Marley had tried to explain to her. She still didn't really get the origin, but this boy deserved to get many solos…obviously, not as many as Marley should get, but still quite a few.

When Blaine was done the song, Mrs. Rose stepped out of the darkness and applauded him (although, she couldn't help but think how clichéd it was). Startled, he spun around on the piano bench to face her. The boy flushed a little. "Oh, I'm so sorry; I didn't know you were here, Mrs. Rose."

"That's perfectly alright," Mrs. Rose assured him, "You're very good."

Another blush. "Thanks." There was a slightly awkward silence, then Blaine seemed to get jolted by an instinct of manners. "Oh, sorry, did you want to sit down? I'll grab you a chair. I'm not sure what you wanted to talk to me about, but I figured it must be kind of important if you wanted to meet, so we might as well be comfortable." The kid was rambling. He grabbed a chair from backstage and set it down, returning to sit on the piano bench and face her.

She realized how strange this must be for Blaine, but he was being so polite that she wasn't sure how weirded-out he was by the whole thing. She decided to get right to the point so that he didn't have to wonder anymore.

"Blaine, I know how strange this must be for you, and I'm sorry to take you aside like this," she started off, "But, um, well…this whole thing is because my daughter recognized you."

He frowned in confusion. "Marley…recognized me? From where? I'm sorry, but I didn't know her before she auditioned, so…"

"Well, she wasn't really sure about you, either. It was more of a hunch." The boy was looking at her, slightly confused but open-minded. "But, when I had an eye out for you, I realized that I recognized you, too. And I remember _exactly_ where I know you from."

Blaine shifted a little on the piano bench. "And, where's that?" he asked, almost warily.

"Well, you see, before Marley moved here, she went to Westerville High." She watched the boy's expression, and was saw a painful understanding flash through his expressive hazel eyes. "She was only thirteen, so Marley doesn't remember many details that would specifically connect you to that school."

"But you do?"

Mrs. Rose nodded gravely, watching the boy as he stared at his own hands resting on his knees. "I was a chaperone at the Sadie Hawkins dance, Blaine."

She could remember noticing two boys dancing together, thinking about how much courage that would have taken to do that. Blaine had had a headful of curls on his head—not tamed like it was now—and braces on his teeth. The boy he had been dancing with had been tall and blonde. Back then, they were only faces to Mrs. Rose.

Blaine was purposely keeping emotion out of his voice, "So, you obviously remember what happened."

"Oh, more than that, Blaine." She would never be able to forget. "I was the one who found you after…after you were attacked."

_The dance was nearing its end. Mrs. Rose watched the two brave boys walk out the back door, laughing. She didn't think anything of it; they were probably waiting for their ride home. However, the situation was brought to her attention when a group of large older boys walked out behind them, with a stumble in their walk and bad news written all over their faces._

_But, she had to help the other parents keep things under control. Someone had successfully spiked the punch near the end of the night, and some kids were getting out of hand. She had forgotten all about the two boys and the suspicious group…until there was a pause between songs and she heard a gut-wrenching cry._

_Mrs. Rose was the closest to the door. She wasn't even sure if the other parents had heard it. But she had. And, deep down, she knew the cause of it. It nearly made her sick._

_She threw open the door to a sight that made her heart break. Upon seeing her, the group of boys quickly fled the scene and the only thing that kept her from killing them was her inability to run quickly and the two poor boys left behind. The tall one was trying to sit up, his chin dripping with blood from a possibly broken nose, and holding the side of his waist like he was keeping himself from falling apart. "Blaine," he gasped out, and that brought Mrs. Rose's attention to the other boy, who was in the shadows to her left._

_He was lying on his side, face pressed into the dirt, and taking in shuddering and painful breaths. His curly hair was matted down with blood and his face was covered in it as well. He was gasping as if he was having trouble breathing, and his fluttering eyelashes showed that he was having trouble staying conscious. _

_Mrs. Rose heard a gasp from another adult coming in the door behind her, and she heard the woman babbling to 911 soon after. She knelt down beside the small boy, gently touching his shoulder, "Honey, it's okay, help is on the way."_

"_C-can't…breathe…" he wheezed. He had his arms wrapped around his torso and, by the way he was gasping as he tried to take a breath, she suspected some ribs were broken. She nearly threw up when she noticed that the arm he had pinned under his body was lying at an unnatural angle._

_More adults came in through the back door, and Mrs. Rose was pushed out of the way. The rest of the ordeal was a blur, but she would never forget the looks on those poor boys' faces. They hadn't done anything wrong._

"So…after Westerville High, you came here to McKinley?" Mrs. Rose didn't see the logic in enrolling the kid into another public school.

Blaine hadn't moved from his tense position, but he seemed to relax a little at this change of topic. "No, actually, I went to a private school called Dalton Academy until last year."

"I see. You were safe there?" The boy nodded. "What about the guy you brought to the dance? What happened to him?"

Blaine bit his lip and Mrs. Rose realized how pushy she was sounding. "Oh, I'm sorry Blaine. I should explain why I'm intruding like this," she sighed, "Since that night, I hadn't heard anything about either of you. But I've never been able to get it out of my mind. I just want to know whether you're _okay_."

The boy nodded and finally looked up at her. "Yeah, I get it, it's just that...well, when I was out of the hospital, I tried to get hold of Eric, to see how he was doing, but…his family didn't want him to have anything to do with me. Ever again. They…they blamed me for what happened…because it had been my idea for Eric and I to go to the dance together. So, I'm not sure where he is now, or what…"

"Oh, I see." She moved her chair closer to the piano bench he was sitting on and placed her hand gently over his. "And, how are you? Are you happy now?"

Blaine sighed a little, but he seemed more relaxed, "Yeah, yeah I am. Dalton was wonderful and really helped me get out of my shell. And, well," he blushed a little, "I fell in love. And that's the reason why I transferred back to public school."

"He's a lucky boy, to have you."

He looked up at her with his warm hazel eyes. "I'm the lucky one," he said, "And, well, this is my senior year. One more and then I'm free. One more year and then I'll move to New York with Kurt and start my life for real."

Mrs. Rose smiled, honestly glad to hear of his future plans. "You're planning on going to New York?"

"Yeah, that's Kurt's dream city. And I've always wanted to go there, too." He smiled a little wistfully, "Also, it's actually legal for me to get married there, so…"

"Honey, I'm so happy for you. You have no idea how many times I'd just sit and wonder how you were, whether you were okay, whether you found happiness. I know that sounds kind of creepy, and I'm sorry, but this is such good closure." She knew that this whole ordeal must have been uncomfortable for the boy, but she had needed this confrontation in order to sleep at night.

Blaine shocked Mrs. Rose by leaning forward and giving her a small hug. "I'm glad you came to talk to me, Mrs. Rose," he said.

* * *

"So, Mom, did you see if you recognized Blaine?" Marley asked her after school.

Mrs. Rose just shrugged and continued to chop vegetables, "Yeah, I looked, but he didn't seem familiar to me. Maybe you two are soul mates," she replied teasingly, causing her daughter to laugh indignantly.

Blaine and Mrs. Rose didn't interact after that, besides the occasional nod and smile at lunch time, but her heart felt so much lighter, just knowing that the curly-haired boy from the dance was okay, that he was safe, and that he wasn't letting past experiences get in his way of happiness, or of love.

**Author's Second Note: I feel like I got Mrs. Rose OOC, but we don't have much to go on as of now in the season, so please don't be mad at me. She doesn't even have a first name yet. Please review. It would mean a lot to hear what you thought!**

**Take care.**

**-Patricia Sage**

**P.S. "My Love Is Your Love (Glee Cast Version)" has lotsa Klaine vocals. Just a note for people who didn't buy it. Because it does. And it's beautiful. Also, you might just need it for next week to include that song while you drown in your playlist that includes "Perfect", "Teenage Dream", "Baby It's Cold Outside", "I Have Nothing" and "Somewhere Only We Know".**


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